STATCOUNTER

Originality is overrated

Never thought I would start my first blog of 2019 with this controversial post title. When I first read the line in an old review by Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal, I immediately felt my hackles rise. (No, I am not even sure what a “hackle” is, and why they never seem to fall, only rise.)

A firm believer in the strength and power of originality, I couldn’t understand how it could ever be overrated. Mr. Teachout then continued, “Even the most hackneyed-sounding plot can be made fresh by a writer who understands that life is always the same—and always new.”

Different context, (play-writing) of course, than our interest in marketing, but as I thought about it, it started to make sense. It is the ability of the writer (copy or screenplay or theater, or…) to take something that the audience is well aware of, familiar and comfortable with, and then use his talents to twist it, rearrange our expectations and make it all appear fresh and new.

And since so few things are truly original—and so few of us are the geniuses able to create them—the ability to make the usual appear surprising is perhaps an even more useful talent.

So, no, I don’t think originality is overrated. I just think it’s damn difficult to achieve.